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Happy New Year 2015

The New Years Eve rituals continued at the Lavender and OLiVE household, starting with assembling the Osechi boxes on the New Year’s Eve at the in-law’s house. We started earlier this year at 9:00 a.m. instead of the usual noon so we could be home in time to prepare for the NYE party with our friends at home.

I took a bunch of photos this time around so I can compile them into one photo book for memory and record. Here are the photos and a short description of each dish:

Kaki to Daikon no Namasu (柿と大根のなます):

Matchstick daikon radish and persimmon marinated in vinegar. This is a new menu added to Osechi this year, thanks to abundant crop of the fruit in grandmother’s backyard.

Renkon no Umezu Zuke (レンコンの梅酢漬け):

Thinly sliced lotus roots marinated in plum vinegar.

Kuri Kinton (栗きんとん):

Mashed chestnuts and yam cooked in syrup, with chestnut on top. It’s very similar to the Italian dessert, Monte Blanc, and very lovely.

Pounded burdock roots cooked in dashi, soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Yes, as the name indicates, these poor little branch-looking burdock sticks are pounded with a rolling pin into submission, but don’t fret, they come back as delicious vegetable dish.

Kouhaku Namasu (紅白なます):

Shredded carrots and daikon radish marinated in sweet vinegar. It’s very similar to the persimmon and daikon sunomono, but the vegetables are shredded much thinly than its red and white cousin.

Tazukuri (田作り):

Dried sardines cooked in soy sauce.

Koromame (黒豆):

Another type of Kuromame (黒豆):

Soy beans cooked in brown sugar.

Okara (おから): This is my favorite dish in Osechi, and I don’t know the proper name of this dish!

Okara mixed with marinated mackerel, radish, and carrots. This is pure deliciousness.

Kikka (菊花):

Chrysanths flower made out of radish.

Kouhaku Kamaboko (紅白かまぼこ):

Red and white fish cakes.

Daikon to Samon no houshomaki (大根とサーモンの奉書巻き):

Smoked salmon rolled in paper thin radish marinated in vinegar.

There’s an art in packing each item in the ojyu, or Osechi box.

The top layer is called “ichi no jyu” and typically contains nerimono (fish cakes, etc.)

The second layer, or “nino jyu,” contains seafood.

The third layer, or “san no jyu” contains “nimono.”

So, after we were done with Osechi packing, we headed home to prepare for the shabu shabu dinner party we were hosting. It has become a ritual for the four of us to enjoy shabu shabu on the NYE. Last year, we only make it to 10:00 p.m. before everyone passed out, but we actually make it past midnight this year!